Suppliers continue to be a source of strife

Although many chefs in the UAE maintain that ongoing food shortages and price hikes on basic foodstuffs are having little impact on their business, high demand means that chefs in Dubai are struggling to lay their hands on various supplies.

“Food items are often limited or unavailable, so as a hotel we consistently review our menus to ensure that we can always deliver what we have listed in our restaurants,” confirms Hilton Dubai Jumeirah executive chef Steven Benson-Flower.

The problem results from the inability of suppliers to keep sufficient stocks according to the Beach Rotana’s executive chef Ernst Frank.

“We do a lot of food festivals and quite often it takes us a while to get all the ingredients together,” said Frank.

“For these occasions, I put a lot of pressure on our suppliers to come up with the right products.”

And it’s not just food produce suppliers that are guilty of letting down the region’s chefs.

In addition to the time-consuming process of sourcing high-quality ingredients, equipment supply and maintenance issues are also a major concern.

“One of the main challenges we currently face is with equipment maintenance and replacement,” agrees InterContinental Hotels Group Dubai Festival City executive chef Geoff Haviland.

It seems a lot more effort needs to be made on the part of the region’s foodservice suppliers to meet the needs of the industry if the sector is going to continue to grow and develop apace.

If you have experienced problems with any of your suppliers, post a comment or e-mail This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it to have your say.

Sarah Gain is the editor of Caterer Middle East.

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